NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 25 October 05 Home's destroyed, but snake's still alive - So are Clewiston family's rabbits, dogs and fish (Byron Stout)
Tabitha Arroyaze weathered Hurricane Wilma's wrath safely in the sturdy home of a friend. But she worried for her many pets she left behind in the rented trailer she shared with her husband, Augie, on Clewiston's east side.
She feared the worst as they made their way home past an Australian pine forest turned to matchsticks. But when she saw her home, her worry turned to terror.
"Cry is not the word," she remembered of her emotions when she saw the wreckage — an unrecognizable jumble of sheet metal, insulation and splinters.
"I was hysterical. I couldn't breathe for a little while."
As she waded into the carnage, though, she soon came to realize her prayers had been answered.
"I prayed for all my pets during the storm," she said.
All nine rabbits. Both her pit bull and terrier-mix dogs. Three tanks of fish that survived miraculously in the ruins of her former home.
And most of all Zena, her 12-foot, 80-pound Burmese python that coiled around Augie's ankle and neck and arms in what appeared for all purposes to be affection. They put the snake inside the bathroom, where one of the only parts of the ceiling was still intact, when they returned to the devastation Monday.
The snake actually escaped after Hurricane Charley but showed up at the family's mobile home about three weeks later, Augie Arroyaze said.
The family kept the snake inside a blue plastic storage container as they cleaned up the property Monday.
Asked what they would do, Tabitha could not say, beyond storing the remains of her possessions in a shed.
"The owner came by, but he couldn't have cared less," she said of her landlord.
"I'm just so thankful that everyone is safe."
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051025/WEATHER01/510250434/1075

SPOKANE-REVIEW (Washington) 25 October 05 Early morning house fire claims pet boa constrictor (Thomas Clouse)
An early morning fire that destroyed a north Spokane home was sparked by a heat lamp that was left on for the benefit of a 6-foot boa constrictor, a fire investigator said.
Fire crews responded at about 4 a.m. this morning to 2817 W. Hoffman Avenue and found heavy smoke and fire coming from the structure, Captain Mike Zambryski said.
Firefighters didn’t know if the house was occupied so they kicked in the door and did two primary and two secondary searches before they determined that nobody was home, he said.
The owner was out of town and had his father come by the residence on Monday night to feed two dogs, a cat and care for the snake, Zambryski said. The dogs were left outside but firefighters hadn’t found the cat.
The snake did not fare well. The owner’s father left on a heat lamp just above the plastic enclosure that contained the snake.
“That’s the only circuit breaker that tripped,” Zambryski said, referring to the heat lamp. “We confirmed that the heat lamp started the fire.”
Neighbors called 911 after popping noises coming from the house woke them up. “They looked out and saw fire coming out of the windows,” Zambryski said.
The fire completely gutted the home, which was insured, he said. The charred snake was still visible wrapped around its water dish.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=5226